Vol. XXIX 

 1912 



J General Notes. 387 



Thryomanes heioichi catalince Grinnell, Univ. Cal. Publ. Zool., 

 V, 308, 1910. Too close to T. b. charienturus. 



Turdus iliacus, reported from Greenland (Henninger, Auk, 1911, 

 p. 492) is already in the list as Turdus musicus. 



III. Proposed Cancellations not Accepted. 



Melospiza melodia merrilli. 

 Melospiza melodia morphna. 



Proposition to cancel these two forms (Kellogg. Condor, XIII, 

 1911, p. 118-120) rejected. 



A number of other cases were deferred on account of lack of 

 necessary material. 



GENERAL NOTES. 



The Ancient Murrelet {Synthliboramphus antiquus) in Ontario. — 



The only two Ontario records of the Dovekie {Alle alle) prove, on examina- 

 tion of the birds, to be Ancient Murrelets. The first was recorded by Mr. 

 J. H. Ames in ' The Auk ', 1902, p. 94, as follows: " A Dovekie {Alle alle) 

 was shot Nov. 18, 1901, by H. Macdonald, a fisherman, two miles out in 

 the lake from Toronto, Ontario. Mr. John Maughan, a taxidermist, now 

 has it in his possession. I was present when he opened the stomach, which 

 was empty except for a few small fish bones. It was a female and evidently 

 a young bird, as there was no white on the secondaries and the back was 

 slaty instead of a black." On turning up my Journal I find that I too had 

 noted the absence of white on the wings and the slaty-blue of the back, 

 I also noticed that the beak was very small and the bird itself large for a 

 Dovekie but had no suspicion of the real identity of the bird and repeated 

 the record in my 'Birds of Toronto' (Auk, 1906, p. 441). Recently 

 through the kindness of Mr. Maughan 1 have been able to compare his 

 bird with a series of Ancient Murrelets in my collection, the Toronto bird 

 is much like a female from Howkan, Alaska, April 12, 1897, but lacks the 

 long white feathers of the sides of the head and nape, the plumbeous rump 

 and upper tail feathers are obscured by dusky, the body feathers under the 

 wings plumbeous instead of black, the chin and throat sooty on only the 

 upper half, and the beak narrower and weaker. 



Mr. Maughan's data give the length as 10.25 in., spread 18.5 in.; weight 

 4 oz., feet light bluish gray, webs darker. 



